In last Thursday’s class, a speaker talked about the size of the carbon footprint that Canada leaves on the world. What really surprised me was that most carbon emissions came from food; then it was explained that the reason why is because it included factors such as transportation and manufacturing. It makes sense why transportation is the biggest contributor of carbon emissions. In a province where most electricity is provided through the means of a hydro-electric source, transportation is still primitive and inefficient; it is impossible to get anywhere without burning a significant amount of fossil fuels. The speaker noted how more than 4/5 of his annual carbon emissions were plane-related. Although it’s better than burning coal, burning fossil fuels still has a significant impact on the ozone layer. This class made me think about how business might be conducted in the future. In the future, what will happen to businesses that are heavily reliant on transportation? An electric car is shown to have a higher amount of total carbon emissions during its production stage (When you buy one, it already comes with a cost to the environment). So what can businesses do to be more sensitive to the environment?
